In a convergence of old and new that will tickle many a funny bone, Microsoft's Kinect has been rigged as a NES controller.

''Yankeyan'', previously responsible for a Kinect hack which allowed a user to control a lightsaber using little more than a wooden stick, has set his sights on a classic, creating a gesture control scheme for Super Mario Bros.

In a YouTube description, yankeyan described how he used OpenKinect drivers and a PC NES emulator to create his tribute to 25 years of Mario. He also admitted it was a fairly strenouous way to play.

''I programmed it to recognize my motions and passed the virtual button presses to the NES emulator. I could have placed a simulated keypad right in front of me that I can press with my hands, but I thought full body gestures were more in the spirit of Kinect. Of course, Mario isn't designed to be played like this, so this is really really hard,'' he said.